Year of the gas shortage in headlines

The nation’s gas shortage was a source of almost-constant news coverage beginning in the spring of 1973 and continuing for the better part of a year.

On April 24, 1973, the ABC Evening News warned: “Gas prices may hit 70 cents a gallon next year.” (If this news doesn’t leave you trembling, remember gas could be had for 30-some-cents a gallon at the time and the occasional gas war would drop the price into the range of 25 cents.)

Americans drove land yachts (Cadillacs of the era were affectionately referred to as “Living rooms on wheels”) and saw no need to change.

The Arabs were about to give them a reason.

The Yom Kippur War started in October 1973 when Arab nations including Egypt and Syria attacked Israel during the Yom Kippur holiday. When the United States supported Israel, the countries that made up the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (made up primarily of Arab nations) stopped almost all oil shipments to the United States.

For Americans, things got hairy in a hurry.

An Oct. 6, 1973, headline in the Times-News (at the time the Daily Times News) read: “Fighting erupts in Middle East.”

An Oct. 9 headline questioned: “Will Faisal cut off the oil spigot?” in reference to King Faisal of Saudi Arabia halting the flow of cheap crude to the United States.

News of possible gas shortages began to dominate and Americans responded by doing what Americans do best, by panicking. Gas hoarding became commonplace. Locking gas caps, previously all but unheard of, became the rage.

There was something of a move toward economy cars, but Chevrolet Vegas and Ford Pintos will never be perceived as the American car industry’s finest hour. The Volkswagen Beetle was another story.

In November, North Carolina Gov. Jim Holshouser rolled interstate speed limits across the state back to 55 mph, a move that outraged truckers who argued their rigs were geared to get better mileage at 60 or 65 mph than at 55.

Burlington’s leaders also jumped into the energy fray. City Manager J.D. Mackintosh announced that thermostats in city buildings would be cut to 68 degrees.

In Elon College, things were worse. Fire Chief Fred Loy announced the thermostat in the fire department would be cut to 60 degrees during on-duty hours and 50 degrees when firefighters were off-duty (this proclamation led to a witty remark from a Times-News reporter who wondered in print if firefighters might secretly hope for a fire to respond to so they could get warm).

Downtown Christmas lights in a number of local municipalities weren’t put up as a means of conserving energy. In Mebane, the lights were put up, but weren’t turned on.

As fewer stations had gas and Sunday sales were virtually nonexistent, travel was curtailed. The owner of Beech Mountain ski resort in the North Carolina mountains promoted longer stays that would require less travel.

Page 2 of 3 - A Nov. 23 headline in the Times-News read: “Gas shortage becomes real.” The accompanying story told of cars and trucks sputtering to halts on freeways around the country as there was no gas to be found.

A photograph in the Dec. 1 Times-News showed Howard Blanchard of Blanchard Oil Co. standing beside his empty gas pumps. An editorial in that day’s paper was titled: “Slower and safer,” detailing how the cutback in speed might be a positive thing for us all.

A couple of days later a Times-News reporter spent three hours traveling with Trooper J.R. Jones of the N.C. Highway Patrol. According to the reporter, as a result of the reduced speed limits, Jones stopped only one driver for speeding, leading him to comment: “If everybody drove like this all the time, this would be a wonderful world to live in.”

At the December meeting of the Burlington City Council, Mackintosh warned the city’s gas contract was up for renewal and prices may jump from 16.8 cents per gallon to 50 cents or more.

By Dec. 22, the Carolina Travel Club of Charlotte predicted 98 percent of North Carolina gas stations would be closed Christmas Day. A local story predicted mandatory rationing of 10 gallons per individual per week. A picture of a local gas station showed pumps dispensing gas in half-gallon price increments because the cost had exceeded 50 cents a gallon, and the pumps weren’t designed to register such exorbitant costs.

Locally, the worse was still to come.

On Feb. 5, 1974, the Times-News reported 75 trucks were involved in a blockade at the Red Horse Truck Stop in Haw River. Some truckers formed a ring around the business to block in other truckers. It was being done to protest rising gas prices and lower speed limits. They vowed to maintain the blockade until fuel prices were dropped.

The next day, the blockade ended, its organizers admitting they did so because some of the truckers blocked in against their will were to the point of “desperate measures” in order to return their rigs to the road.

Meanwhile, a trucker was shot and killed at the wheel of his rig in Delaware because he didn’t comply with a shutdown called for by some of his cohorts.

A headline in the Feb. 7 Times-News read: “Finding gas a hide-and-seek game.” Al’s Exxon on North Church Street was open for gas sales only one hour each morning. At Sox Texaco on South Church Street, sales were limited to $3 per customer. To make matters worse, officers with the Burlington Police Department warned that motorists blocking traffic while waiting in line for gas were subject to tickets.

On Feb. 8, legendary Times-News photographer Jack Sink produced a montage of “No gas” signs — the pictures shot at local stations.

Page 3 of 3 - By mid-February, most local gas stations had adopted an even/odd policy of gas sales, the day a driver could purchase gas based on the ending number on his license plate. Cars with even-numbered tags could buy gas on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. For odd, it was Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Even then, most stations were pumping only three hours a day and sales were typically limited to either $3 or $5. Problems also arose because motorists with odd-numbered tags felt slighted when the majority of dealers were now closed on Saturdays.

If your father argued there’d be plenty of gas available as soon as “they” got the prices where they wanted them, well, it’s hard to argue against that point of view. The promise of a negotiated settlement between Israel and Syria was sufficient to convince Arab oil producers to lift the embargo in March 1974.

Sporadic shortages have followed in the years since (remember the energy crisis of 1979?), but for the most part, for Americans, gas — at inflated prices — has been available.